Chirps from Center Ice

          vs.          

6                                                5

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There are some games you get up for and others you don’t.

Tonight was one where the Penguins woke up and asked, “Whaaaa happened??”

Anchored by a four point night by Mike Sislo (3-1-4) the Albany Devils skate away from the Penguins 6-5.

Now you may look at the score and think it was a close game. You’d be wrong. The Devils controlled this game from the first second and never really looked back or stayed down. The Penguins didn’t help themselves any by sleepwalking though a good portion of the first half of the game. A sloppy, sloppy game all around from defense to goal.

Colin Riccobon is a sports anchor for the local TV news. He also moonlights on color with Mike O’Brien from time to time. He said at the end of the game that for the first time this season the Pens didn’t have their “all together game.” — That pretty much hit the nail on the proverbial head right there.

Peter Mannino vs. Keith Kincaid.

No lineup changes for the Penguins.

First Period: Dominik Uher in the penalty box and Reid Boucher cashes in the slot for a 1-0 Devils lead. Then, Rostislav Olesz snipes from a strange angle and it’s 2-0. Penguins sleepwalking, arisen a bit by a Harry Zolnierczyk goal to cut it to 2-1. But right after that, Sislo gets his first to put the Devils up by two again. They also exposed Mannino a bit as the Pens defense was hanging him out to dry.

Second Period: Scott Harrington scores on the power play to cut the deficit to one again. Then, the Penguins are given a power play. Wilkes-Barre is coming back, right? Wrong. Nick D’Agostino with a turnover and Mike Sislo makes it 4-2 on a shorthanded goal. Wait, Tom Kostopoulos scores on the power play anyway to make it 4-3 and the Pens trailed by one again!

At this point, the gloves were off. This was a slugfest.

Kelly Zajac scores a goal that Mannino should have had, it was 5-3 Albany.

Zach Sill did this:

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Then the Penguins found themselves with 1:17 of 5-on-3. They didn’t score. Let’s come back to this in a bit, shall we?

Third Period: Penguins score :24 apart, once from Mike Carman and once from Chris Conner and the score was tied. The Devils players were stunned. Don’t believe me?

Stunned, I tell you.

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Anyway, then the chances opened up for both sides. Brian Gibbons had a breakaway but was denied. Andrew Ebbett pounced on the rebound and was denied on the backhand. Then, Sislo completes his hat trick when his blast hits Deslauriers and is caromed in by Brendan Mikkeslon.

Penguins would then get ANOTHER five-on-three for 1:21. Here’s where I thought at the time that Head Coach John Hynes should have used his time out. You didn’t score on the last five-on-three you had earlier in the game and you NEED to score here to even it. He never did and the Pens didn’t score. Game over.

Notes: This is the first regulation loss for Jeff Deslauriers…..Albany was outscored 10-2 in their last three games, they came to play tonight.

Three Stars: 3) Chris Conner (goal, assist, even) 2) Reid Boucher (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Mike Sislo (three goals, assist, +3)

Around the Division: Syracuse beats Norfolk in regulation 2-1 and Binghamton beats Rochester 3-2 in overtime. Hershey was off.

Standings: Penguins 18 — Syracuse 17 — Norfolk 17 — Binghamton 14 — Hershey 7

Conference: 1) MCH (19) 2) WBS (18) 3) HFD (16) 4) SYR (17) 5) NOR (17) 6) SPR (15) 7) BNG (14) 8) ADK (14)

Wheeling Update: Wheeling beats Fort Wayne in Indiana tonight by a score of 6-2. Carter Rowney a hat trick.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. It’s basically a Mike Sislo highlight reel. Blech.

Pens are off tomorrow then travel to Springfield for a 3 p.m. game in Massachusetts vs. the Falcons. Gameday for that will be up Sunday at 11.

Unless news breaks Saturday, the next update will be Sunday morning.

Let’s Go Pens!